The final race of the “West Coast Swing” was run on Sunday at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and for the first time since Daytona in August, we have a first-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series. 

The pole was won by Tucson, A.Z. veteran driver Michael McDowell, who captured Spire Motorsports’ first ever Cup Series pole award. His lap time was 28.883 sec. (192.86 mph). 

Christopher Bell, who had won the previous three races, was looking to do something a driver hasn’t done since 2007, win four races in a row. The last time someone won four out of the first five races was Bill Elliott in 1992. However, Bell’s team found an issue with the car post-qualifying, so they started at the back, and never could recover. 

In fact, Bell’s team made a stir for a different reason. During green-flag pit stops, Bell’s team failed to secure a lug nut on his left-front tire, so he drove farther down pit road, and stopped in the box of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe, who wasn’t pitting at the same time. Briscoe’s team tightened the lug nut, and Bell went on his way. Though it was unprecedented, NASCAR deemed it a penalty on Bell, citing a “Pitting outside the box” penalty. 

Josh Berry, driving the famed #21 Ford for Wood Brothers Racing, got the team their 101st win, and it’s the first time they’ve won races in back to back seasons since the 1980s. In fact, the last five wins for Wood Brothers Racing have been a driver’s first. Elliott Sadler in 2001, Trevor Bayne in 2011, Ryan Blaney in 2017, Harrison Burton in 2024, and now Josh Berry in 2025. 

Our Daytona 500 Winner still leads the overall points lead, with William Byron having 207 points through five races. Christopher Bell trails behind with 178, -29 off of Byron. Josh Berry catapulted up eight spots, now he is 13th in the standings. 

Next week’s race is the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway at 3:00 PM EST on FS1. Can Josh Berry defend his maiden win in South Beach? We’ll have to wait and see.